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Name Game
This activity can be followed up the next day by calling role using students' names and their 'likes.' It's a great way to learn everyone's name quickly.Elementary to Pre-Intermediate

Conditionals - first
Vincent from France asks Anna to explain why the present is used after when to express the future.Intermediate

Important Events in My Life
By discussing drawings of five important events in their lives, students can learn about each other on the first day of class.
Intermediate

Alive or Dead?
An Austrian woman has had to convince her electricity supplier that she is alive after the company wrote to her asking for information about her contract following her "passing away." (Clerical errors and bureaucracy, reading for overall understanding, reading for details, sequencing, adding extra information to sentences, crossword.)Intermediate

Bring Your Parents
British pensioner Joseph Dickinson, 103, had a shock when his local hospital phoned him to ask him to come in for an eye test... and told him to bring his parents! (Making and answering questions, memorizing a short text, word find, discussion, simple past tense forms.)Elementary

Let's Close The Town
Residents of a remote Quebec mining community have voted to shut down the town following the closing of a local copper smelter, the area's main employer. (Small towns and employment, comprehension, true, false or not given, before +- ing, role play, essay topic, discussion.)Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate

Superlative Race
An inspiring and motivational way to practise the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.Pre-Intermediate

Child Tracking Devices May Be Next
A British scientist said he received many requests from worried parents asking him to implant a tracking microchip into their children after the murders of two 10-year-olds in a quiet English town. (Tracking devices and children's safety, understanding the main idea, matching words and meanings, choose the best answer, reading carefully, 'say' and 'tell'.)Pre-Intermediate

Modals - Have to & Must
Jenny, a teacher in Japan, has written to ask Anna to explain the difference between have to and must>.Intermediate

Divorce Research
Unhappily married couples often get lots of advice and a new report offers some more: don't divorce, stick it out. (Divorce, giving an opinion, predicting before reading, reading and listening gap fills, a lot of / lots of / plenty of / much / many / few / little, making a speech, word find puzzle.)Upper-Intermediate

A Baby's Name
An angry Italian mother has gone to court after her husband secretly named their newborn son after a prize-winning horse. (Naming children, sequencing, reading for detail, a / an / the, word search puzzle, discussion.)Elementary

Sea Refugees
Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans. (Climate change, global warming, comprehension, true, false or not given, discussion, reported speech and direct speech.)Upper-Intermediate

I Want To Be Alone
More than 200 years after they went out of fashion in Britain, professional hermits are back in the job market. (Hermits, the advantages and disadvantages of living alone, predicting from the headline, comprehension, true, false or not given, discussion, present perfect and simple past tenses.)Intermediate

List and Listen
This warmer is a fun and competitive way to review vocabulary. It also encourages students to think 'outside the box.'Intermediate

Verbs - to be
Sandra from Argentina wanted some more activities for her pupils about the verb to be, so Anna has made some. Enjoy!Elementary

eBay Watch
Few would question that auction enterprise eBay has become one of the most important companies on the Internet. But what was it about eBay that not only allowed it to survive, but thrive in a nascent industry where success became the exception rather than the rule? (The auction website eBay, guessing words from context, sequencing, role play, discussion, spot the mistake - grammatical errors.)Advanced

No More Recorders!
The humble recorder, played by generations of schoolchildren, has received an unwelcome blow when researchers revealed the average child hates it. (The recorder and other musical instruments, musical preferences, finding the main idea, synonyms, writing questions, expository essays, role play--making excuses, finding grammatical mistakes.)
Intermediate

Get the Most out of your E-mails
When it comes to sending e-mails, the personal touch is best because the more people the message is copied to, the less likely the recipients will reply. (E-mails and communication, understanding the main idea, scanning, guessing unfamiliar words, sequencing, a / an, analogies, discussion and problem solving.)Upper-Intermediate

Category Contest
This is a fun and competitive way to review vocabulary. In teams, students recall words for specific categories.Intermediate

Ground Zero
Today's lesson looks back to the events of September 11, 2001 and analyses an article giving an account of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the ruins of the World Trade Center complex shortly after the event. (Vocabulary and style, scanning, text organization, synonyms, analyzing a text, expressive writing, human interest stories.)Advanced

Young Whale Looks For Family
A young female killer whale rescued near Seattle swam to freedom on Sunday to join her relatives in what scientists hope will be a permanent and groundbreaking reunion. (Killer whales, animals in captivity, scanning, zoos or aquariums, true, false or not given, summarizing, 'if + present simple, will + infinitive', listening gap fill.)Intermediate

Super Seal Saves Dog
A seal saved an elderly dog after it was swept away by a fast-flowing river in northern England. (Rescues, animal behavior, sequencing, comprehension, reading for detail, using the word 'after', word find, pair discussion.)Elementary to Pre-Intermediate

The Cost of Tying the Knot
New York is the most expensive city in the United States to get married and many couples will spend about $27,000 to tie the knot and that doesn't include the cost of the honeymoon.
(Cost of a wedding, planning a wedding, finding the main idea, summarizing, find someone who..., persuasive essays.)Intermediate

Buskers Permitted Here
In the past, street performer Yasunori Koyama would be sent packing by police patrolling the streets and parks of Tokyo even as he performs his impressive juggling act to a visibly delighted crowd, but times have changed. (Street performers, city councils, predicting, true, false and not given, summarizing, relative pronouns (who, which, that), discussion.)Intermediate

The Fuss About Fugu
One of Japan's most famous fish dinners could be a date with death. A meal of fugu, a poisonous blowfish, is famous throughout Japan. (Unusual meals, Japanese restaurants, scanning, matching information, true, false or not given, text organization, interviews, discussion, role play and word forms.)Advanced

Mime Your Holiday
This is a good activity to use when students have returned to school after a holiday.Pre-Intermediate

Questions - Did you not?
Sergiy from the Ukraine sent Anna a lovely letter asking about Did you not ..?, Didn't you ..? and the use of articles. Intermediate

Around The World In A Balloon
U.S. balloonist Steve Fossett ended his record-breaking solo round-the-world flight being dragged like a rag-doll through the dusty Australian outback. (World records, ballooning, ranking dangerous activities, comprehension, cloze listening, the structure 'by + -ing', planning a trip around the world.)Intermediate

Woman Remembers Three Centuries
The wrinkles in Hava Rexha's pale skin were carved by a life spanning three centuries, under Ottoman Turkish rule, Albanian monarchy, Italian occupation and Stalinist dictatorship. On August 14th 2002, surrounded by 120 offspring of four generations, she was 122 years old. (Longevity, biography, arranged marriages, crossword, listening and matching, debate, ranking, discussion.)Upper-Intermediate

Cyber Romance
A worldwide poll showed that 30% of web users regard the Internet as a good place to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. And despite the public perception that cyberspace is a shallow, hostile environment, lovers who meet through Internet chat rooms may actually end up forming strong relationships. (Internet chat room relationships, scanning, summarizing, 'despite', 'in spite of' and 'although', discourse markers, understanding a graph, writing an ad, interviews.)Upper-Intermediate

Lost Palace
Workers building a new town hall in Nicosia, Cyprus found the remains of an 800-year-old Lusigan palace whose whereabouts has been a mystery for centuries. (Medieval buildings and archaeological discoveries, Cyprus, reading for detail, discussion, time expressions with 'for', word find.)Elementary

Housework Bad For Health?
It's exhausting, time consuming and although it counts as physical activity, housework does not improve health or help to shed those excess pounds, British researchers say. (Housework versus exercise, true, false or not given, the suffix -ologist, discussion.)Intermediate

Finders Keepers
An exciting way to teach prepositions and there is even a prize at the end of the activity!Elementary